Awaken
by CaptainOzone
Summary: In which Danny wakes up after a terrible battle. He's not alone. A missing scene from my ongoing AU "Shift," but may also stand alone. Post-Reveal AU.


This was written as a Christmas 2019 gift for caldera32, who requested Danny Phantom and hurt/comfort. As such, it was written to stand-alone.

That being said, this was _also_ written as a missing scene from "Shift," my ongoing AU. Apologies, Shift-readers, for the interminable wait I have been putting you through. It looks as though 2019 was NOT my year to finish the fic (no thanks to a huge Young Justice fanfic I did not anticipate starting, let alone finishing), but if this oneshot proves anything, it's that I'm thinking about it and have every intention of getting back to it. :)

Regardless if you've read Shift or not, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Consciousness did not come kindly. It came to him like a drunk driver in heavy fog, meandering in one direction before slamming its brakes, only to jerk and jolt in nauseating and unpredictable cycles thereafter.

And then suddenly _BAM. _

Danny wished nothing more than to be back in that groggy fog. Anything was better than the crash and blinding light that came with sudden awareness.

The pain was one thing. The disorientation, the fact his body was trapped in _fight or flight_—

That was another.

He drew in a sharp breath, and it caught and burned in his throat, where it lingered and settled into a pitiful whimper. He couldn't move. He couldn't fight. He...He...

He'd been fighting, hadn't he? He'd been on the Tower.

Sound crested over him in a confusing rush, and his heart threatened to burst from his chest as his panic mounted. He didn't know where he was. What was happening. He needed to get up. He needed to _move._ Pariah Dark was there, and his family was trapped. They were—

Gentle fingers carded through his hair. The touch was familiar, kind, and the scent of peaches washed over him.

_Jazz_.

His eyes burned as he realized what this meant. He was safe. And if Jazz was there, he...he had nothing to fear.

He slumped back into the bed he was laying on, pain receding in a wave of momentary bliss when he released the tension in his body. His head swam, and not in a fun way.

"—ny?" Jazz was asking. "Danny? Can you hear me?"

His body didn't feel his own. It wasn't responding right. He squeezed his eyes shut, tried to form words with cracked lips. "_Ow,_" he finally managed to wheeze.

Jazz exhaled a choked laugh. "I know, I know, baby bro," she soothed. Her voice was thick, throaty. "I know it hurts, but you're okay. I promise."

A thick tear leaked from the corner of his eye. He didn't have the strength to brush it away. "Jazz?" he croaked.

"Yes, I'm here. Hold on."

A straw slipped between his lips, and on instinct he drew a short sip of the water Jazz had gotten him. It was the best thing he'd ever tasted. When he was done drinking, he felt leagues better than he had before. Clarity was starting to cut through the haze of pain, making it easier to focus, to actually _see_Jazz before him.

She looked..._okay_. And something about that made Danny pause because he could have sworn she _wasn't_. None of them were. Right?

"What...?" He swallowed harshly and tried again. "What happened?"

Jazz didn't answer immediately. She continued to pet his hair, as though he hadn't spoken at all. He would never admit how nice it felt, how much he wished he could stay in this moment for just a moment longer, so he could focus on her ministrations instead of that of the liquid acid in his veins and the throbbing ache in his limbs.

Alas, such was not his life.

"Jazz," Danny said, more strongly this time. Her silence meant something, and he wasn't going to be coddled away from whatever she didn't want to tell him.

He tried to rise and was instantly grateful for her automatic hand on his shoulder. She pressed him back into bed and asked, "What do you remember?"

_Lightning_, Danny recalled immediately. _Fire and metal. Fear. Desperation._

_His family, captured. His allies falling. Pariah Dark looming above_, _fangs bared._

Danny's heart began to sink. "Did we win?"

Jazz spluttered another wet laugh in response. She couldn't hide the tremble in her fingers as she interlaced hers with his and gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

It was too much to ask his battered body to respond in kind.

"Dumb question, I suppose," Danny muttered, attempting a joke. It fell short, his relief all too prevalent. "I'd be dead if we didn't, eh?"

"Not that you didn't give it your best shot," Jazz snapped in retort. Danny saw furious tears rise in her eyes, but she turned her face away before he could apologize. "You've...woken up a few times. This is the first time you've been coherent. For awhile, we didn't know if you'd _ever_—"

_We._

"Oh," Danny realized aloud, interrupting Jazz. His eyes carved a line straight through the ceiling, out into the sky and beyond. "_Oh_."

The machine next to them caught the skip in his heartbeat. Jazz squeezed his hand again.

"They know," he said, just to put it out there in the universe. To make it feel less like a dream. The memory solidified and became real the moment the words left his lips. "They _know_."

"They're just outside," she whispered gently. It's an admission, and also a promise. "They're waiting for you."

Danny didn't have a response for that. The beeps in his ears increased in tempo.

"...Would you like to see them?" Jazz asked. "I...asked them to step out when we realized you might wake up today. Just to give you some space. They...they realize..."

Danny took a deep breath and tried not to think about the ravaged quality Jazz's voice had taken on, of the electrifying tension crackling around her. He's grateful, but also horrified. Because, damn, what mess he must have caused. Guilt and anxiety crept up his throat, closing it off.

Jazz, however, braced herself, a fierce expression of protectiveness settling on her face. "I can tell them you're in pain," she offered, clearly interpreting his reaction in the worst way possible. "That you fell asleep before I could ask. Before you could remember. You're past due on some of your meds, anyway. They'll understand."

He was tempted. Adrenaline had been keeping him awake this long, but Danny could feel exhaustion hovering, ready to overcome him at a moment's notice. His eyelids alone felt as though they weighed tons. He could not delay the inevitable, not when it seemed it'd already been delayed long enough, given the shape he was in.

His parents knew he was Phantom, and there was no Reality Gauntlet, no wishing-granting ghost, no power in the world that could change that now.

"No," Danny said. "No, I..." He winced as he shifted awkwardly in bed and triggered another rush of discomfiting pain. He powered through it and grunted, "How long?"

Jazz blinked. "What?"

"How _long_, Jazz?"

"Oh." She hesitated and then admitted, "It's been five days since the Ghost King was defeated. Two since Frostbite's medic told us you were in the clear."

_So long. _Despite the anticipation mounting in his chest, his resolve strengthened. "I need to see them."

"Are you sure? You've been—"

"_Jazz_."

Danny met and held her gaze. Jazz studied him for a moment before rising to her feet. "You're the bravest person I've ever known, Danny. I'm so proud of you."

And with that, she was gone. Danny missed her warm presence the moment she stood. Waiting in bed, alone, unable to move or so much as twitch without a sharp protest from every cell in his body, was its own particular brand of torture. A cold chill he hadn't noticed before seeped into his marrow, and the thought of trying to adjust his blankets himself was enough to make his eyes burn with tears of unfair frustration.

Odd. He...he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so bothered by the cold.

Later, he would learn how badly his ghostly core had been damaged. Later, he'd realize the full extent of his injuries and would come to understand and accept how much time it would take to heal; to feel normal—or, rather, as normal as normal is for someone like Danny Phantom. It wouldn't be until later he realized his anonymity was truly a thing of the past and that things were going to change. Drastically.

But that was later.

He watched the door fling back open, and before he could so much as garner the energy for a smile, a quip, a _hello_, or an _I'm so sorry_—

His mom was there, brushing the hair back from his forehead. His dad was there, eyes and cheeks wet.

And nothing else mattered.

At that moment, he wasn't Phantom, a ghost his parents allied with in the battle against the Ghost King. They didn't care about _that._

No, at that moment, he was their son, a boy who'd nearly sacrificed his life for the whole of the Ghost Zone and Human World combined, and as Danny cried with them, he allowed himself to _release,_to bask in the rush of praise and murmurs of comfort and love flowing amongst them.

He fell back into a healing, deep sleep before the word _Phantom _could so much as ruin their reunion, but he knew, somehow, that when he woke up again, it never would.


End file.
